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REPORT: Sen. Ben Nelson to Cast Key YES Vote on DADT Repeal

Sen. Ben Nelson will announce that he is voting YES on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal compromise, reports Open Left.

Only last week, the conservative Nebraska Democrat announced he would not vote for repeal before the Pentagon finished its year-long review. "Nelson’s support brings the total number of votes in the Senate Armed Services Committee to 15," reports the Wonk Room. "Enough to attach the delayed-implementation amendment (offered by Lieberman (I-CT)) to the Defense Authorization measure on Thursday. When the amendment passes in committee, it would require 60 votes to strip repeal from the bill during the floor debate."

In related news: The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld writes the White House has been largely missing in action on DADT repeal and had to be "drag[ged] across the finish line."

"The White House and Gates seemingly didn’t want a vote this year. Activists wouldn’t let up. Murphy, Levin, and Lieberman put in a heroic effort to salvage repeal. And in my estimation, when Levin was one vote away in the Senate committee, White House officials realized the repeal train was leaving without them and not hopping aboard was a no-win situation. If it passed, they would get no credit; if it failed by one vote, activists would castigate them for withholding support. This compromise could still fail, and make no mistake, the deal was brokered by the White House, which then treated it as the redheaded stepchild it never wanted in the first place. But the outcome — win or lose — now has the administration's fingerprints on it, even though its refrain since Monday morning has been that Congress was forcing its hand."

Politico reports the Speaker Pelosi, Levin, Lieberman and Rep. Patrick Murphy "forced" the White House to get involved at the 11th hour. "'They got the message, I think, actually really from Pelosi that [Congress was] going to try to do this with or without the White House. ... They could be part of it or not be part of it,' said Richard Socarides, liaison to the gay community under President Bill Clinton. 'She figured if Congress tried to get something done and failed, the White House would be blamed. If it tried to get something done and succeeded, and they stood on the sidelines, they’d look like jerks, and it would sort of make the president look bad. It was her leadership and her willingness to be out in front on this at the end that forced their hand.'"

WATCH: Socarides on Kagan: "Brilliant, Pragmatic, Progressive"

Richard Socarides, the gay attorney and former White House Special Assistant to President Bill, worked with Solicitor General Elena Kagan for four years. Socarides offered this assessment on CNN's American Morning.

"She's first and foremost a brilliant lawyer. A brilliant person. Someone who engages everyone she knows. She's a brilliant, pragmatic, progressive intent upon hearing all sides and fashioning a solution that works for the most amount of people."

Meanwhile: Progressives such as Salon constitutional legal scholar Green Greenwald are quite unimpressed: "Blank slate, institution-loyal, seemingly principle-free careerist." That's just the beginning ...

Watch the video ON THE JUMP ....

Live Tweeting "Path Forward"

Follow me on Twitter where I'll be live tweeting @MSignorile's  two-hour show "The #PathForward: An #LGBT Leadership Town Hall". Also using #PFwd tag.

Signorile Hosts LGBT Leadership Town Hall Today in Washington D.C.

Michelangelo Signorile, host of The Michelangelo Signorile Show on Sirius XM, will moderate a live, two-hour LGBT leadership town hall today from 2 to 4PM in Washington D.C.

"The Path Forward: An LGBT Leadership Town Hall" will feature National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director Rea Carey; National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling; Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director Aubrey Sarvis; former Clinton White House adviser on gay rights Richard Socarides; Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend and Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese.

Signorile writes: "With all the direct action protests this week by GetEQUAL, the uncertainly and anger about getting a passing vote in the House and Senate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act—which has been put off since last summer—and the signals from the White House that it doesn't support repealing "don't ask, don't tell" this year, we'll put the tough questions to those who engage with the White House and Capitol Hill on a daily basis. In the room will be activists, including Robin McGehee of GetEQUAL, who will be posing a question as well."

Get a free 7-day pass and listen online any time at Sirius 109. If you have an iPhone or Blackberry, go to the app store and download Sirius XM for free, for a 7-day trial.

Obama Orders Hospitals to Grant Visitation Rights to Gay Couples

The President has ordered almost all hospitals in the nation to grant visitation rights and medical powers of attorney to gay and lesbian couples. President Obama mentioned this several times on the campaign trail. It's much needed and long time coming.

Read the Presidential Memorandum HERE.

The order effectively means same-sex partners must get the same privileges granted heterosexual couples, reports the Los Angeles Times.

"In a memo to his Health and Human Services agency, Obama ordered the secretary to ensure that all hospitals getting Medicare and Medicaid money honor all patients' advance directives, including those designating who gets family visitation privileges. The order also requires that documents granting power of attorney and healthcare proxies be honored, regardless of sexual orientation. The language could apply to unmarried heterosexual couples too. ... Several states, including California, give some hospital rights to gays and lesbians. North Carolina recently gave patients the right to designate visitors whether visitors are legally related to the patient or not. Delaware, Nebraska and Minnesota have similar laws. In his memo, Obama told HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to 'expand on these important steps.'"

The newspaper adds: "Although it is not one of the more controversial items on gay activists' agenda, the visitation issue could still inspire a political fight. One conservative thinker said late Thursday that the memo undermines the definition of marriage and represents government intrusion into healthcare."

But that is contradicted by the memo. The last paragraph (HERE and PDF) reads: "This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person."

The President's actions are inspired by the tragic February 2007 case of Janice Langbehn who was prevented from seeing her partner as she slipped into a coma. Even after a power of attorney naming Langbehn was sent to Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, the hospital refused to allow Langbehn access to her partner Lisa Pond, who died about 18 hours after being admitted. In September 2009, a federal judge denied her lawsuit, saying there was no law requiring the staff to grant Langbehn access to her partner.

After signing the statement, Obama called Langbehn from Air Force One and offered his condolences. Langbehn writes at her blog: "Humility surrounds me and the next 3 minutes of my life. He knew our story and offered the long awaited apology – that Jackson Memorial STILL refuses to give – why is that? – the President could."

You will recall that anti-discrimination measures were supposed to be included in the health insurance reform bill. The LGBT provisions were passed by the House version but stripped in the final version that eventually passed. The New York Times:

"Richard Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton on gay rights issues, said that while the memorandum on its own did not grant any new rights, it did 'draw attention to the very real and tragic situations many gays and lesbians face when a partner is hospitalized.” Ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to find a better way to handle such situations, Mr. Socarides said, is 'the kind of thing the gay community was hoping Obama would do right after he was inaugurated.'"

A small but very important step in the right direction. Bravo to the President and the White House. But: This was not a major action item such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and hopefully isn't being offered as a consolation prize.

AC360: Pam Spaulding and Cleve Jones on National Equality March

CNN's Anderson Cooper talks to Pam Spaulding, Richard Socarides and Cleve Jones about the Congress and President Obama's record on gay rights and the reasons for this weekend's National Equality March. Spaulding says: "There's a long list of progressive issues that need to be acted upon and it's almost as if we were put back into the closet and told to wait."

Pam also explains the behind-the-scenes comedy that led up to the interview.

Kudos to Pam. She's done great work and it's about time we saw her on AC360.

JUMP to watch the interview.

John Berry's Bleak Assessment of Obama's LGBT Agenda

John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management and the highest ranking openly gay official in the Obama Administration, speaks with The Advocate's Kerry Eleveld and offers a relatively frank albeit disappointing outlook on the Administration's LGBT legislative agenda. Berry infers some goals may have to have wait for a possible second term. The OPM director also defends the Obama Administration's highly offensive motion to dismiss a challenge to the Defense Of Marriage Act.

First, the good news: "[T]he Obama administration hopes to secure passage of Hate Crimes this coming week and that President Obama is soon to announce an initiative pertaining to providing federal LGBT employees with benefits equivalent to those provided to their heterosexual counterparts."

On the DOMA brief: "Our strongest argument against "don’t ask, don’t tell" is that we stand with the truth. And that we, more than anyone, know the cost of lying and the terrible pain it invokes. This president took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and he does not get to decide and choose which laws he enforces. He has to enforce the laws that have been enacted appropriately and that he has inherited. It would be wrong for me or any of our community to advise him to lie or to shirk his responsibility. He’s doing his job. He has made clear that he stands for the repeal of DOMA. It will be part of this administration’s agenda to accomplish that act. We ought not waste energy and angst attacking him when we should be focusing the energy and effort on getting 218 votes in the house and 60 votes in the Senate, and that’s where we ought to target the energy and the strength of this community and this president is with us, this is our agenda and it’s his agenda."

Richard Socarides, an attorney and former White House LGBT advisor to Bill Clinton, says just the opposite in this excellent essay at Americablog. Berry does not address the outrageous and gratuitous arguments used throughout the filing and (unfortunately) the reporter doesn't probe further.

Berry says the Administration's "four broad legislative goals" include hate crimes, ENDA, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and DOMA with this very interesting footnote: "Now, I’m not going to pledge—and nor is the president—that this is going to be done by some certain date. The pledge and the promise is that, this will be done before the sun sets on this administration—our goal is to have this entire agenda accomplished and enacted into law so that it is secure." The Advocate asked several times does that include a second term. "I say this in a broad sense—our goal is to get this done on this administration’s watch.

Berry: Hate Crimes May Pass Next Week [Advocate]